Cave In
by JazzyCat
Summary: Mai was never very fond of having the ceiling fall in on her. NaruMai fluffish two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

It was very common for damage to befall the house on which SPR was performing an investigation. In fact, it happened more often than not. If they managed to solve a case without breaking open a wall or smashing a few windows, it was nothing short of a miracle.

Thus, Mai had been exposed to more than her fair share of cave-ins, and in the beginning she'd always needed someone to rescue her. However, as time wore on, she got more and more agile, and had proved herself more than capable of escaping from bits of plaster and broken support beams. She even—secretly, of course—commended her skills as 'ninja-like', which fueled her ego to a size comparable to Naru's. But not really.

The young assistant had been overjoyed when her reflexes had been sharpened to perfection; she was rather tired of getting hurt by falling bookshelves and the like. On that day she had thought that never again would she be squashed beneath an inanimate object that weighed more than her. No—swore it.

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This job had started much like any other; a request for help, a long car trip, and then hauling heavy equipment into a large house to set up base. Camers and microphones were set up to monitor activity in each room, and once the video feeds had started, Naru and Lin were absorbed in work, leaving Mai to her own devices until the rest of the gang showed up, though they were only expecting Bou-san and perhaps Masako.

She didn't understand what could be so interesting about the tiny television screens when nothing of consequence was happening, and decided instead to go exploring and familiarize herself with her surroundings. This had proven useful to her in past cases. She merrily strolled the halls, poking her head into a room here and there, making faces at the cameras to annoy her coworker and tease her boss. Upon passing the kitchen she saw her client -- Yuuna Takada -- preparing tea. She passed by the room, noting that she didn't see the daughter -- Aimi -- anywhere in the house.

Base was set up on the first floor, so she moseyed on up the stairs to continue her search, suddenly finding herself with a mission to find the missing Aimi Takada. She peeked into the washroom and both bedrooms, but found no trace of anyone. In the upstairs study she approached the camera and leaned to be eye-level with it.

"Naru, I was just thinking," she started, trying not to think of the snide remark she would be getting from the young man. "We're investigating the attacks on the mother and daughter, right? At first I thought it could be a poltergeist because Aimi is in her teens, but some of the criteria doesn't fit." She tapped her chin thoughtfully, looking to the ceiling and noticing a crack in the paint that led into the hallway. "But I was just thinking; has anyone even seen the daughter? I haven't met her since we got here." She cracked a smile. "Maybe she's a ghost!" She couldn't help but chuckle.

A sudden racket from the first floor caught Mai's attention and she abandoned her message to Naru in favor of investigating. She reached the top of the stairs and called down to Yuuna. When no one replied, she hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she found the woman--unharmed--standing next to a girl younger even than Mai. Seconds after herself, Lin and Naru raced into the room, no doubt to inquire after the noise.

"Ah, I guess I was wrong. There she is," Mai laughed. Naru said nothing. Mai stomach clenched, suddenly feeling uneasy. Her eyes flew to the mother and child, who returned her stare. Splintering wood sounded from above, and plaster rained down.

This was like a horrible deja vu scene for Mai. A billion times before she had been cuaght up under bookshelves and fallen ceilings or strapped to a bloody table about to die. To put it simply, she was tired of being targeted by these ghosts, and was quite tired of ruining perfectly good clothes.

"Look out!" she cried, gesturing wildly for the two of them to join her under the threshold of the door. Yuuna moved quickly, her daughter close behind her, but moving at a slower pace.

Sucking her teeth, Mai almost sighed, exasperated, and rushed forward, ignoring the shouts of "Mai, no!" from Lin and Naru. If there was one thing she had learned from her escapades at SPR, it was that she was impossible to kill.

The ceiling came down right as Mai dove, tackling Aimi and taking her down. She tucked her chin over the other girl's head, pressing Aimi's face into the cloth of her shirt. Mai's hands shielded her head and she braced herself for the rain of splinters. She still heard the voices of Naru and Lin, now joined by Yuuna crying out for her daughter. When the worst seemed to be over, Mai shifted a tiny bit to reassure them that everything was fine, only to be silenced by the largest crack of all. Mai gulped loudly and prepared herself for something that would most certainly hurt.

AN entire beam from the ceiling detatched itself and fell, landing right on the small girl's back, forcing her down. Before blackness took her, she went through Aimi.

"Mai!"

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**A/N: Yo my peeps. It's been a while. School sucks. This is my first new work in a while, and I hope you enjoy it, despite it's suckiness. The next chapter is less formulaic and more fluff, I promise. ;)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

"Is she alright?"

"Should we call an ambulance?"

"Naru, why didn't you stop her?"

"How long has she been out?"

"Look she's walking up!"

Mai stirred, head throbbing and back positively burning. The voices of her friends were much too loud for her taste, and she wanted to roll over and stifle them with a pillow over her hears. Unfortunately, any such movement sent electric pains shooting up her sides.

"Ow," was the only sound she could make, and it was far from intelligent. She wasn't sure she liked the relieved laughs she heard.

Cracking open an eye, she took in her surroundings. Bou-san and Ayako were there, and Lin and Naru as well, though not immediately in her field of vision like the overbearing monk and shrine maiden.

"Mai!" Bou-san cried, and gently took her into an awkward hug, overjoyed that she appeared to be alright. She winced and sucked in a breath at the sudden pain, earning Takigawa a smack from the Miko.

"Can't you see that hurts?" Typical bickering. Mai chuckled.

"How are you feeling?" Ayako asked, concern lacing her face and voice. Mai attempted to sit up, and failed miserably, though she did manage to discover that she lacked a shirt. Her chest was bandaged tightly from collarbone to navel.

"Everything hurts," she said. "What happened? Did we solve the case?"

Ayako and Bou-san exchanged a look, then simultaneously glanced back at Naru. Mai could only barely see her boss's face, but his expression wasn't happy.

"Um, I think Naru wants to talk to you," Bou-san said, obviously uncomfortable. Naru only nodded. "So we'll be taking our leave...see you in a bit, though, when you're feeling better..."

"I'll be back with your painkillers in a bit as well," Ayako added, before Lin escorted the pair out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Mai was alone in a room with her boss. Who was angry. And she wasn't wearing a shirt. She couldn't see how this was going to go in a favorable direction at all, and steeled herself for a verbal lashing and possible physical beating.

"Mai." She tensed. His voice was like daggers. His arms were crossed over his chest as he walked within sight-range and glared venomously at her. He didn't sit, didn't speak, only stood there for a moment, maintaining eye contact, obviously livid.

"Y-yes Naru?" she answered, and tried to sit up again. His hand reached out and shoved her shoulder back onto the mattress, not at all gently. She bit back a cry and returned his evil glare. "What was that for?" she demanded.

"You are dumber than I thought," he replied curtly, and paced to the other side of the room. Returning to her bedside, she noticed his cool composure was slipping. "Do you have any idea how luck you are? Or how stupid? Do you even understand what you did?" Mai shook her head. There really was no other answer.

"All I did was try to save Aimi," she defended, "and I don't see how you can yell at me when you've done the same for me a number of times!" Her voice was rising to match his, but she was unaware that either of them had started yelling at all.

"Yes, Mai, but there were a few crucial differences between the situations," he said condescendingly. "The first being that I was never at risk of being impaled by a thick wooden beam and the second being that I risked my life for someone who was _alive_." He was positively fuming, an uncharacteristic display of emotion for him.

"What are you talking about? Of course you could've been killed! You had an entire ceiling collapse on you! And what do you mean living?" Mai recalled going through the girl beneath her, which she found strange and unexplainable. Unless... "Wait, you mean... I was right?"

"When you suggested that Aimi was a ghost? Yes. But that's not the point here."

"But I was just joking around because I hadn't seen her! I didn't know..." Mai's emotions were jumbled; she felt proud for having solved a case on her own, but sad that it had not been intentional. She also felt stupid for jumping out to protect a ghost, which couldn't be harmed by mundane objects from the human world.

"Not the point! You are an idiot! You've done exactly what I ordered you not to do, and you've plummeted even further into the depths of dumb, Mai. You've done some silly things in the past, but this one really takes the cake!" He stopped to breathe. "You could've been killed! Crushed to death! And SPR would've been held accountable for your death in the long run, Mai. Not to mention I'd be out one assistant, and we're shorthanded as it is."

Mai said nothing, her hands gripping the covers tightly as she thought of a retort. Naru took her silence as permission to continue.

"You need to think before you act and not blindly rush off to be a hero."

"I wasn't being a hero!" She argued. "I just couldn't stand by when it looked like someone was going to be buried alive!"

"Exactly! And instead of saving someone, you just got yourself into trouble, like you always do."

"You want me to apologize for doing what I thought was right?"

Naru's fingers pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Mai. That's nothing to apologize for." He was gritting his teeth, obviously upset that he couldn't yell at her for that either. "I just wish you'd think a little before acting." Suddenly he was tired, and slumped onto the edge of her bed. Resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, he glared at the girl again. "Look at what you've done to yourself."

Mai's fingers stroked the bandage that disappeared around her back where the pain originated from. "You want to tell me what happened?" she asked. "And why I'm lacking half my clothes?"

Naru sat up a little straighter and spoke in his business voice again. "The large beam that fell very nearly crushed your spine, Mai. Luckily, you moved off to the side enough that it just got your side. It pierced through some skin, but there was no muscle damage that we could see. After we got you out of there we cleaned you up as best we could. Or, rather, Ayako did. Once it was determined that your life was in no immediate danger, she refused to let Lin, Bou-san or myself into the room as she tended to you. Because your shirt was shredded beyond repair."

Mai was thoughtful. "And the case? How did you figure out she was a ghost?"

"I decided to investigate your suggestion myself, but after you fell through her, I needed no further confirmation. She was a low-level spirit that attracted more malicious beings that attacked her and her mother, who was unaware--or unaccepting--of the fact that her daughter had passed away. Ms. Takada is fine now, though a bit shaken after the scene."

"Oh."

An awkward silence stretched between them, both lost for words as they thought things over.

"Were you scared Naru?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Your hand is shaking." Mai reached out to touch his trembling fingers. "I'm sorry. If I scared you."

Withdrawing his hand from her grasp, Naru ran his fingers over his face, suddenly looking tired and much older than he was. "It was terrifying, Mai, watching that beam come down. I could do nothing," he spat the last word, "except watch as your tiny body was crushed. I thought you were going to die. And yes, to answer your question, it scared me."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She wanted to comfort him, though there was nothing to worry about now. She'd already apologized, and she wasn't sure if thanking him for worrying was appropriate.

"I've been in worse situations, Naru," she said softly.

"But I'd never been so powerless. I didn't like it. It was....frightening to see so much blood coming out of you." Mai was choking back tears. Naru was being...tender. She was scared and touched at the same time. She wanted nothing more than to hug him, but she couldn't move. Cursing her low pain threshold, she resigned herself to reclining against the pillows.

"If it's any consolation, I don't think I'll be diving under falling debris anytime in the near future...or ever, if I can help it."

"No, Mai, it's not really comforting. Trouble seems to find you anyway." The young man stood and walked to the door. "You should sleep," he advised. "Ayako promised you painkillers soon, but we can't leave until you're able to walk. This building isn't exactly the most stable, so I'd prefer not to risk everyone's safety longer than we need."

"I can walk just fine," she protested, struggling. He instantly shot her down with a look, and she stopped squirming.

"It's an order, Mai, and I expect you to follow." Nodding, he opened the door and walked into the hallway. She could faintly hear his footsteps fade, and couldn't help but smile.

He cared enough to be scared. Perhaps, she dared to hope, her affections were returned?

Rolling onto her side slowly, she fell asleep and dreamed not of Gene, but of Naru the Narcissist.

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**A/N: So, it's done. Did you catch the fluff? It wasn't exactly straightforward, but it was there. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it. It's kind of been floating around my mind, but it's not the easiest thing to outline. It's hastily done, and the second chapter is much better, but it's good to get it out. Reviews feed my soul. Thanks for reading. :)**


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